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Lind continues struggles at the plate

TORONTO -- Adam Lind's continued struggles at the plate have left the
Blue Jays searching for answers on how to solve their offensive woes.

Lind, who wasn't in the lineup on Tuesday night against Rays starter
David Price, has tried just about everything this season, but has yet to
find a consistent approach.

At one point, the club felt he was being too aggressive and later that
changed to Lind not being aggressive enough. Through it all, the Blue
Jays have placed him in the cleanup spot, No. 5 and No. 8 in the order,
but at this point still haven't found out exactly what is wrong.

"The production has been less than his standard or less than what he
has put up previously," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "Yet, he
continues to work to try to gain some rhythm. We've tried to look at
matchups that are favorable to try to jump-start him. We've looked at
different spots in the lineup.

"But to get to the point of an expiration date I can't sit here today
and say that's in fact the case. But at the same time, there's an
expectation that we have as a team to put the best team on the field to
win, and that can be taken a step further for expectations for
individual players."

Lind entered play on Tuesday night hitting just .184 with nine extra-base hits and 11 RBIs in 33 games this season. That's a far cry from
his 2009 Silver Slugger season that saw him finish in the top 10 in almost
every major offensive category in the American League.

The past two seasons haven't gone as smoothly, and while it's possible
that Lind is still trying to live up to those lofty expectations, the
Blue Jays hope he can forget about all of that.

"It goes back to what we continually stress with each player and that's
to focus on the things that they can control," Farrell said. "You
can't focus on what the bottom-line numbers are ... It's the attitude,
the work ethic and the preparation that are really the only things that he
can continue to control.

"To say that at the beginning of the season, he is going to go out and
hit 'X', with 'X' home runs and 'X' RBIs, I think that's chasing a
ghost. It's a matter of what he can most readily control."

TOR
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ONTO -- Adam Lind's continued struggles at the plate have left the
Blue Jays searching for answers on how to solve their offensive woes.

Lind, who wasn't in the lineup on Tuesday night against Rays starter
David Price, has tried just about everything this season, but has yet to
find a consistent approach.

At one point, the club felt he was being too aggressive and later that
changed to Lind not being aggressive enough. Through it all, the Blue
Jays have placed him in the cleanup spot, No. 5 and No. 8 in the order,
but at this point still haven't found out exactly what is wrong.

"The production has been less than his standard or less than what he
has put up previously," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "Yet, he
continues to work to try to gain some rhythm. We've tried to look at
matchups that are favorable to try to jump-start him. We've looked at
different spots in the lineup.

"But to get to the point of an expiration date I can't sit here today
and say that's in fact the case. But at the same time, there's an
expectation that we have as a team to put the best team on the field to
win, and that can be taken a step further for expectations for
individual players."

Lind entered play on Tuesday night hitting just .184 with nine extra-base hits and 11 RBIs in 33 games this season. That's a far cry from
his 2009 Silver Slugger season that saw him finish in the top 10 in almost
every major offensive category in the American League.

The past two seasons haven't gone as smoothly, and while it's possible
that Lind is still trying to live up to those lofty expectations, the
Blue Jays hope he can forget about all of that.

"It goes back to what we continually stress with each player and that's
to focus on the things that they can control," Farrell said. "You
can't focus on what the bottom-line numbers are ... It's the attitude,
the work ethic and the preparation that are really the only things that he
can continue to control.

"To say that at the beginning of the season, he is going to go out and
hit 'X', with 'X' home runs and 'X' RBIs, I think that's chasing a
ghost. It's a matter of what he can most readily control."